President Barack Obama would take a decision on the post 2014 presence of American troops in Afghanistan only after Washington concludes negotiations on a bilateral security pact with Kabul, a top US official said.
"Once we've completed our negotiation with the Afghans and have a legal basis for our continued presence, I think the President would intend to make a decision and announce the exact size and composition of our presence," said James Dobbins, Special Representatives for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Hopeful that the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with Afghanistan could be signed in the next couple of weeks, he said the US is keeping Pakistan fully appraised of this intention and these negotiations.
"We look forward to their continued support for the international presence in Afghanistan," Dobbins told foreign journalists here.
Responding to questions, Dobbins said both Pakistan and Afghanistan have told the Obama administration that they believe that Mullah Baradar after release would become a supporter and a proponent for reconciliation and peace talks.
"Our conditions for successful peace negotiations are well-known. The Taliban would have to stop fighting. They would have to agree to respect the Afghan constitution and operate within it.
And they would have to cut their ties with al-Qaeda. Those are not conditions to begin negotiations, they're conditions to end negotiations, but that's the kind of agreement we would support," he said.
The US, he said, support a process of negotiation, of peace talks.
"We ourselves haven't had any contacts with the Taliban since early 2012, but we would support a process that would allow both US-Taliban talks, but more importantly, talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban," he said.
"We would support an agreement that met those criteria. Now, we don't have an independent basis for judging whether Mullah Baradar would be helpful or not, and we're not basing our view on our information about Mullah Baradar because we don't have an independent basis," he said.
"All we know is, the Afghan government and the Pakistani government both wanted this to happen, and both think that it will contribute to reconciliation, a goal we support. We also support the improved relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and so if this improves the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and if they believe it will support a peace process, then we favor it," Dobbins said.
